greg p

Charles Reid

What the hell has happened to Fresno scheduling? They have a big enough stadium, with decent fan support. Why can’t they get any big opponents to play in Fresno anymore? This feels like it should have been a 2-for-1 deal. USC wouldn’t have to travel far to Fresno, plus they get two home games. Crazy.

Fresno basically just cut the same deal for themselves that UC Davis could have made with USC.

Dave

Fresno makes more money riding the bus to Los Angeles than they can make at home, averaging 30,000 per game with over 11,000 empty seats. The Fresno glory days are behind with no sign that they will return. The new slogan should be, “Any check, any where-I’m losing my ass and need the money.”

Greg

George Hall

Kinda odd. If FS is a good enough opponent to schedule at all, you’d think they could cut a 2-1 deal. What next? USC v Iowa Little Sisters of the Poor? Anything for a paying date with little chance of a loss? Not good.

Rick Lewis

Common Sense

As a college football fan, I understand why they did this, to compete with the weak OOC slates like every other conference.

As a Trojan, I am disgusted with this is and any other weak scheduling with bad Power 5 teams. USC’s rule is that we will play “anywhere, anytime.” In addition to ND and (Alabama, Texas and BYU). I want to see a third game against a average/weaker Power 5 or Upper Tier Group of 5 team. Definitely a team that can expand USC to certain states for recruiting such as Cincinnati, Houston, Tulane, UCF, USF… For a weaker Power 5 in fertile recruiting area, think NC State/Virginia/Syracuse, Miss St/Kentucky, Texas Tech, Rutgers/Maryland.

Patrick

Common Sense-
SC played a neutral site game against Syracuse at Met Life stadium a few years ago & did a home & away with Virginia as well. I agree with a game against Cincy say at Bengals stadium or USF/UCF at Dolphins stadium would be cool. Try something different like that to schedule a game using a nearby NFL stadium like playing Mizzou at the Rams stadium.

Josh

They used the US News Rankings and took the Top 10 FBS-playing Universities. The next few would have been: Wake Forest, Michigan, North Carolina, Boston College, Georgia Tech, Illinois, Wisconsin, Penn St., Florida, Miami (FL), and Washington.

jhasting

Eric the Wildcat

Great article and thanks for taking notice of the rivalries between some of the best schools in the country. Northwestern is deliberately scheduling more games against peer schools that share this academic commitment. Our students want to compete both in class and on the field.

Someone Who Actually Knows Something About Football

Great concept but completely bogus rankings after the obvious top two, ND and USC. Vanderbilt, Duke and Virginia all have historically weak teams but enjoy high rankings here because they only play each other. Next to Rice, they are clearly the three worst teams on this list by any plausible measure. Only the most ignorant fool would say that Vandy has had a better football team over the years than UCLA! If these two schools had played each other for the past 50 years, I guarantee you that UCLA would have won at least 48 of the 50 games (and the Bruins would have been favored to win all 50, but I’m assuming a couple of upsets).

As Eric the Wildcat pointed out, Northwestern deserves credit for going out of its way to schedule these games. Since 2012, NU has won five of six (with two other games cancelled), beating Notre Dame, Stanford, Cal, Duke and Vanderbilt while losing the return match vs. Cal. Sadly, after losing to NU in both 2010 and 2012, the cowardly Commodores bought their way out of rematches in 2013 and 2014, in order to play football weaklings Austin Peay and UMass instead.

you need to re-read the article, they didn’t start with fb rankings they started with USN rankings of top 25 schools from academic perspectives, then identified those with an FBS fb team, of which there was only 10, then ranked those 10 by the records against each other.

James O'Rourke

Actually, Grady has a point. It’s clear that these rankings are derived from a set of National University Rankings that do not include the federal academies, I think Grady’s observation makes sense. Just because the Air Force Academy, West Point, and Annapolis choose not to participate in those ranking systems doesn’t mean they’re not among the very best of collegiate institutions in this country.

Gabrownfam

Grady makes a good point, but the academies didn’t choose to not be ranked by USN, USN excludes the academies because of their political nomination and appointment criteria. They would certainly be top 25 otherwise as they are in other publications

Day

Maverick

Yeah, dude, these game sucks. I’m embarrassed for them. But at least these games also come during the same seasons we play Notre Dame and Alabama, ND and Texas twice, and ND and BYU, in addition to 9 conference games. Meanwhile SEC schools play 8 conference games and maybe 1 good power 5 neutral site game… Nice try.

Day

Maverick,
I was not trying anything, just stating a fact. You luv to complain when an SEC team schedules these games meanwhile USC does it & you have to use an excuse about (least we are playing Bama, ND & Texas). It does not matter who else USC is playing, just making the point before you complain about what the SEC does, look in the mirror 1st. That’s why I say hypo critic. You can not have it both ways, bashing the SEC while your team does the exact same thing, that’s why I continue to say that ALL TEAMS DO IT. Meanwhile you bash Bama for playing neutral site games & now USC is playing Bama, in a neutral site game, imagine that.

Comparing Alabama’s schedule to USC’s is a joke. USC has 1 more away game, 2 more P5 games, 0 FCS… USC easily has the hardest schedule in the country. For a team like 2015-16 national champions Alabama not to play a schedule like that is a joke.

How can you not see that?

Day

I was not comparing the scheduling, all conferences are not created equal, we have a difference of opinion, that’s all. It does not bother me that Bama plays in a 8 game conference or that Bama plays 1 FCS & 2 smaller schools.2016 Bama starts with USC & as much as you would like to call them (cupcakes) W.Kentucky just won Con.USA championship & went 12-2, Chattanooga lost in the playoffs in FCS, Kent St is the only team I can not speak for but they are as equal as Utah St is. Just like USC it is extremely hard to get through the season just losing one game or playing for an SEC championship or even a national champion, I understand you think the SEC is a joke but that is your opinion nor will I try to change it but just because you play a in a 9 game conference does not make it harder on you. Good luck to your Trojans next year.

Maverick

The fact I’m telling you is because the Pac 12 plays 9 games, they will have 6 more losses guaranteed.
Because of that, it makes the conference look weaker than it really is.
If the SEC played 9 games, they would have 7 more losses guaranteed. So instead of playing that, they play a weak Group of 5 team at home. It’s false advertising.
Do you see where I’m coming from?

schoup

Once again Bama avoids actually scheduling a home and home with a major opponents b/c they shrivel up when they actually play a real road game out of conference. Btw, USC has in the past and has in the future scheduled home and homes with anyone.

day

I respect USC but their past/future home-n-home schedules consist of Boston College, Virginia, Syracuse, Minnesota & the only respectful one is OSU (The Ohio State). If USC agreed to this then why would is it be Bamas fault for the (no) home-n-home series? Is USC not accountable?

Michael in Raleigh

Uh, do Florida and FSU (annual HAH), Clemson (HAH’s vs. SC and Georgia), LSU (HAH’s vs. Washington & WVU recently), and Ohio State (HAH vs. Va. Tech and others) not count as “big time college schools?” What about USC’s HAH vs. Notre Dame every year, or Oklahoma’s vs. Tennessee, or Michigan’s vs. Utah? Are none of these “big time college schools,” or is Alabama the only big time college school in America?

Slick ric

Is day said dumb? Usc scheduled home and home with auburn when they were the top team in the country and they scheduled with Arkansas. SC truly doesn’t care. Alabama won’t do it with an LA school because last time UCLA beat the brakes off their ass.

Mike Criddle

Day’ s list of past USC OOC schedules ignored the home and homes with Auburn , Kansas State the yearly game with Notre Dame . What SEC team does this year after year…to my knowledge the only SEC team that will regularly do that sort of thing is LSU..which also proves RollTide’s comments to be incorrect

Day

@Slick Ric: I was not going back 10-14 yrs to a home/n/home with Auburn & Arkansas, I meant recently who USC played home/n/home. I don’t think Bama is afraid to come out to LA & play because of the UCLA game. If that was the case then Bama would of forfeited the BCS game against Texas in 09″.

M.Sage

Every PW5 should have 10 games against PW5 schools. SEC & ACC can be really sneaky by only scheduling 1 PW5 as they are mandated to do so. All PW5 should eliminate FCS forever. Back in the 80s, schools would never schedule like they do. Also, ALL PW5 should have to play 1 true road game out of conference because that’s simply a man’s game.

Example: next year Alabama only plays 4 Away (in conference), 7 Home (4 conference, 3 weak non conference) & 1 Neutral Site ( Wisconsin) – SEC has played this sneaky scheduling to their advantage during the BCS Era (98′-13′) but got exposed in the CFB Playoff.

We can’t go back in time and justify the inequities of the BCS Era but ALL conferences and sneaky teams (Bama & Baylor) can play a MAN’S game and schedule honorably and not like cowards. Spin it anyway you want but if you’re so good you shouldn’t be afraid or scared of think you’re above other teams not to accept the challenge of a Home/Away series against a major PW5 school.

I’d personally like to see FSU vs. Bama (no neutral site please) and see Florida do a Home/Away versus a major PW5 school.

Man up dudes! “Anytime, anywhere” should be all schools non conference scheduling motto not the garbage that we’re sometimes given.

USC has played the SEC on home and home games (Auburn 02′, in 03′ Auburn was ranked #6 and Arkansas 05′, 06′), and it was not pretty for the War Eagle and Razorbacks, so yes they may not scare anyone but they do accept challenges from all regardless of what conference they are from.

Day

“Example: next year Alabama only plays 4 Away (in conference), 7 Home (4 conference, 3 weak non conference) & 1 Neutral Site ( Wisconsin) – SEC has played this sneaky scheduling to their advantage during the BCS Era (98′-13′) but got exposed in the CFB Playoff.”
Are you saying this because Bama lost to Buckeyes? Cause Bama did beat Texas, Notre Dame & LSU in BCS Championship games, were they exposed then? You can find a problem with any team’s scheduling & there are a lot of teams from P5 that play FCS teams. There is nothing wrong with neutral site games, people that complain about the home in home don’t even go to the games. Times have changed since the 80’s & these “coward teams” you mention get payed very well & sometimes win.

Maverick

Day, the whole point is that Alabama shouldn’t even have been in the NC game against LSU. Also, when they beat Texas, they knocked Colt McCoy out early on in the first quarter. The one championship they truly deserved 100% was beating the crap out of Notre Dame.

Bama is a great team, but the SEC’s ridiculous scheduling is the reason we have the CFP.

Day

Maverick, we have the playoffs cause everybody is whining & crying about the BCS, not because of Alabama’s schedule. Please don’t blame Colt McCoy getting knocked out as a reason Texas lost the game, Bama’s defense was dominate in that game & it is not Bama’s fault the teams lost in front of Alabama in which got them to the game against LSU. I agree Bama may should not have been there but who then, what other team, Bama lost early & rose back up the rankings.

Maverick

@Day, As long as you agree that they probably shouldn’t have been there, then we’re good. Alabama was still a great CFP worthy team though those years.

The BCS was the worst system. USC from 03-08 was the best team in college football (minus the one season of 2 losses). They should have been in the national championship more than the 2x it was, but because the BCS favored teams with more total wins (when the SEC and former B12 were the only conferences that played National Championship games) and the SEC continued to play doormat OOC games, USC was left out. Smh.

Day

@Maverick, It all balances itself out, you seem to forget that Auburn got left out of the championship game thaks to USC & Oklahoma playing each other, yes they were preseason a head of Auburn but still the BIG 12 & PAC 12 won the game over. It is not the SEC or BIG 12 fault because USC did not make it into more championship games. I’m pretty sure TCU fans are upset this year because they got left out thaks to (primarily) The Ohio State putting up 59 on Wisconsin but those things happen all the time. USC was a dominating force in the 2000’s & will be again.

Day, Auburn was left out of the national title game in 2004 because they had a crap OOC schedule. Playing FCS teams like Citadel doesn’t give a program on the precipice legit argument to play for it all. AU had a terrible bowl game win against VT too. Last but not least, AU’s head to head with USC the two years before didn’t help matters either. OU and SC was the correct matchup that year. In the end it’s about the OOC scheduling. The SEC’ is lacking big time compared to other power 5 programs for HAH.

day

K, understandable but please keep in mind that Oklahoma & USC were preseason #1 & #2 I don’t think that Auburn could of done anything more to move up the rankings & in front of them. Yes Auburn had a close game with a great Vatech but on the other hand Oklahoma got taken to the woodshed as well by USC.

William Lovell

Bruce Arbitblit

winston

id love for my auburn tigers to get another crack at the mighty trojans. all sec teams seem to be announcing their power 5 opponents in chronological order i wonder if we’ll find out who our mystery opponent is next? im guessing most likely one of these

FSU
Clemson
or Georgia tech

David

I’d take any of those three. Georgia Tech’s always a good choice since that used to be the annual Wreck Tech rivalry…. AU’s played Clemson plenty in the ol’ Tigers v. Tigers series. But the FSU game… in the 80’s that was a fun regular season game.

winston

sadly as much as i hate to admit it traditional home and homes are fading away in favor of more neutral site games which is where the money is . college football is becoming too much of a corporate money game eentually the fans themself will be expected to pay money just to tailgate. hell wouldn’t surprise if in the next few years every single college football game goes the way of wwe. tna and mma and becomes a
ppv event where the only way you can watch on tv is by ordering it . trying to be too much like the nfl will be college footballs greatest downfall

Emanuel Gary

its hard for most people to understand the natural advantage held by USC, so let me explain, there are 16 million people in Los Angeles county and all of them want their kids to attend USC, it is the heart and soul of Los Angeles, and in the middle of South Central L.A. and not going anywhere. There are 4 million in the whole state of Alabama.

sitofthewhining

Untill usc wins another championship or makes it there. Shut the hell up. Whatever the sec is doing with their scheduling is working. Oregon has not made a championship in a while despite the hype. When they did they lost. Usc lost yrs ago the last time. When any of those teams reach the championship again then come on here with this bullcrap. Till then shut up.

hatebellyachers

Agreed. People always talk trash cuz they teams aint winning. Maybe yall should model after the conference with 6 of the last 7 bcs titles or whatever the numbers are. Quit all this whining and tell your teams to do something about it. Running your mouth doesnt win football games.

Robert matthews

Who care where the games at. Im a Trojan fan and its great to see these great teams willing to play each other. Its better on a neutral field. No advantages let the teams play and we watch the war thats going to happen.

Maverick

I care. I want to attend the game and watch Alabama lose to USC in Los Angeles. Then I want to see us play a rematch on TV and beat Alabama in Tuscaloosa again. Neutral site games are for bowl games and annual rivalries, i.e. Florida-Georgia, Oklahoma-Texas.

day

Spoken like a true fan, you want a home n home series but are unwilling to attend the game in Tuscaloosa. May be you can make the trip to the Dallas game & (as you want) see USC win, or better yet lose.

Maverick

How does traveling to a road game make me not a true fan? The point of a home and home is to watch your team at your own home game and watch the away game on TV with your friends. It’s also nice to see two match-ups at each other’s place, as it gives it the college feel. Playing at a neutral site NFL stadium takes away from the college experience. Yes, everyone in the country is excited to see the two best college football programs to restart their prestigious rivalry, but it would be much better if they could play twice, both at USC and at Alabama.

Day

Maverick, how is it a college experience watching it from your living room? You can’t complain about not having a home/n/home then not go to both games, it makes no sense. If you want home/n/home then make sure you go to both games, that what you wanted in the 1st place. NFL stadiums do not take anything away from the college game, sometimes it adds. I think its great USC vs BAMA in one of the nicest stadiums in America at AT&T in Dallas.

Chase Everett

The sec has the hardest schedules every year if you make it through that gauntlet then to hell with these bullshit USC Michigan Norte dame ucla and fsu teams that don’t play anybody all year! Bama and Mr Saban faced auburn ole miss miss state Missouri. Two in the top five and two in the top twelve. And the reason the bcs was so hated is because nobody else could make it and everybody got tired of seeing the sec whoop that ass
Having said all that ROLL TIDE!

Jon Jones

The SEC is way overrated. You guys like to bash the Big12….. BUT if the SEC is so good then how can a bottom rung Big12 team (Missouri) and a middle rung Big12 team (Texas A&M) join that league and in the 1st two years they both were playing the final week of the regular season with a chance to play in the SEC championship game? Don’t even waste your time trying to sell me that Miss St, Ole Miss and the likes are actually great teams; yes, once in a blue moon they are good teams.

This is the SEC’s game plan and the media isn’t smart enough or have big enough balls to call them out on it or more likely they are in bed with them (ESPN).
1. Let’s all play weak out of conference HOME games
2. Let’s all be ranked (by stupid media) at 4 and 0 (see #1)
3. Then let’s claim that SEC is so tough; just look at how many ranked teams we have. We must all be good.

I just want to see good football teams play good football teams on the road (it even effects NFL teams). I know your Bama could whoop ass on any NFL team.

By the way if I was a season ticket holder of Bama I would be a little upset to fork out the big bucks to see a scrimmage against the likes of Middle Tenn., Louisiana Monroe and Charleston Southern (nothing against those schools but – come on). It seems as if Louisiana Monroe has joined the SEC with how many teams they play in that conference each year.

Day

melson

It’s fun to see comments on who going to kick who’s ass, like it really means something. Still, Bama vs USC, I can see ghosts of Bear Bryant and John McKay, back in the day. That’s what college football is about and that’s why we play the game. Roll Tide!

Barnabas

Pete Carroll wanted to play Alabama even in Tuscaloosa but the Line went silent. Now he’s gone and Southern Cal has NO established Quarterback. Pete went packing. Bama should never fear losing to USC as old guys recall that Southern Cal went to Tuscaloosa and dominated the Tide 24 – 7 before Bams scored a late TD for a 24 – 14 loss in 1978 and still WON the National Championship. Gimme a break . Also I’d like to know how Bama claims 17 National Championships? At least 2 of them gotten before losing their Bowl Game. Gimme another break and another one. USC claims no bogus trophies with 11 National Championships. Perhaps one of Bama’s Titles was givin’ to them by Floyd the Barber in Mayberry RFD ?. Well surprise surprise. Probably not. NOT ! >>> ’cause I think the gift would be gladly accepted and then Bama claims 18 National Championships.. And now they are calling this One Shot Game THE COWBOYS CLASSIC. Neither the Trojans nor The Crimson Tide can rope a Steer or ride a buckin bronco. OK .I am a WYOMING COWBOYS fan , really am and we claim ZERO National Championships but we certainly know our Rodeo. YAHOOOO

Day

As a Wyoming fan I clearly see you don’t know much about anything you just said, example Pete wanted to play Alabama? When, Bama was not very good when USC was dominating in football & he packed up once he knew what was coming for Trojans & probation. Bama does not claim 17 NC & WTF does Floyd the Barber have to do with anything, why am I even commenting on this statement? One thing is for sure, enjoy your rodeo cause Wyoming will always have ZERO National Championships.